Y2K - Bomba-Relógio

This is the second 'documentary' I have seen in the last few weeks where the filmmaker just strings along a bunch of clips about the subject.

Rather than explaining the Y2K issue with some sort of narration and context both at the time and looking back some 24 years later, the documentary relies on the clips from the times in order to do so.

All they did was compile news clips, movie clips and anything else from the late 90's that had anything to do with Y2K, present them in chronological order, and then add a few graphics here in there. Lazy and boring. I'm surprised HBO didn't just bury this.

I feel slightly more confidant that I can relate this time to my daughter (who is older than I was at that time), and speak of more minute details. The good aspects of people uniting and a pre-9/11 world being so happy even when scared brings a little more joy than I had before watching this. It's incredible to see some of the foreshadowing of the world during this, and I am glad that the makers of this didn't focus on those. They let them be little cameos. In fact, I would have truly loved to see an ending where they showed the twin towers still erect. No words said about one year, nine months, and ten days from that moment. Just a silhouette. A reminder that worry is just imagination used incorrectly.

Not a bold statement from a person typing to many other people out there that may happen upon my review, but I was there. I was a ripe sixteen when the ball dropped, and I was very much up to zero good. However, this movie does a great job of going a few years before that very not fateful day. I was old enough to be aware, but young enough to not exactly know who Jager or Kostinen were. I probably saw their faces dozens or hundreds of times, but they didn't ring any bells while watching this film. All that said, bringing back up slight moments of my teenaged memory helped remind me of the fuss that this was.

6.8 stars is accurate.

As "Timebomb Y2K" (2023 release; 84 min) opens, we are in "1996" as Bill Clinton and AL Gore yap it up about the "information super highway", and big names like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos all weigh in. Then comes along a no-name doomsayer Peter De Jager, warning about the "millennium bug" to anyone who will listen to him... At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: with 20/20 hindsight provided by the passage of a quarter century, we now look back at the hype that was the millennium bug. Was it ever a fact? We simply cannot tell as of course nothing happened when December 31, 1999 changed into January 1, 2000. De Jager says that doom was averted because so much work was done by so many in the leadup of Y2K. I have no idea. What we know is this: preparing for Y2K became a cotton industry in and of itself. It also gave (yet another) excuse to the fringes of society to spout all kinds of non-sensical conspiracy theories (the Y2K bug was a plot by the federal government to come take your guns away! No, really!). Bottom line: whether it was a fact or just hype, it now feels like the Y2K bug is at best a curiosity or footnote in history, and that is how this documentary comes across as well.

"Timebomb Y2K" played at various film festivals in 2023, and it started airing on HBO and streaming on Max (where I caught it) in late December. If you feel a little nostalgic about the "good ol' days" of the late 90s, I'd readily suggest you check this out (with expectations in check), and draw your own conclusion.

"Time Bomb," marketed as a documentary chronicling the infamous millennium bug, falls short of its potential to create a captivating time capsule. The film primarily relies on a compilation of old news articles, offering a montage of historical moments without delving into the depth needed to provide a meaningful perspective on the Y2K phenomenon.

One of the film's major drawbacks is its brevity, featuring only fleeting 15-second interviews with industry titans like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos. These brief snippets fail to offer substantial insights or reflections on the challenges and fears surrounding the Y2K bug. It leaves viewers yearning for a more in-depth exploration of the thoughts and strategies of these influential figures during that pivotal time.

While the idea of using archival footage to revisit the turn of the millennium is intriguing, "Time Bomb" lacks the narrative cohesion necessary to tie these disparate clips together effectively. The disjointed nature of the film leaves audiences with a sense of missed opportunity, as it neglects to weave a compelling story around the Y2K bug and its impact on society.

Moreover, the documentary's overall uneventful quality mirrors the anti-climactic nature of the Y2K bug itself. The film fails to capture the tension and anticipation that characterized the lead-up to the year 2000. Instead of offering a nuanced exploration of the social and technological landscape of that time, "Time Bomb" merely scratches the surface with a superficial montage of historical snippets.

Ultimately, "Time Bomb" disappoints as a documentary that could have served as a valuable time capsule for future generations. Its lack of depth and failure to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Y2K era make it a poor recommendation for anyone seeking a meaningful insight into the turn of the millennium and the challenges some of us lived through.

Splicing archival footage in with a contemporary retrospective, but that isn't what this is. Th list documentary is entirely from archival footage with the most prominent voiceover being Leonard Nimoy, who has died over 5 years ago.

There's about 5 minutes dedicated to explaining what Y2K was and it's potential impact and the rest of it is just padding. You could swap half the runtime with an episode of doomsday preppers and the only noticable change would be video and audio quality.

This could have been something great some modern commentary about lessons learned, shortsighted management, other potential ICT disasters or even parallels to global warming but as it stands, it's merely an 80 minute timesink.